For One Golden Day
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day 11 - McKinley High, 1992... Will lives the dream...


_Three... Two (!!) week Glee hiatus, the horrors! To try and make it go by faster, I decided to do this project. I'll put up one new ficlet every day (I hope...) up to the day Glee returns! So be on the lookout! :)_

_Halfway point! We're getting there!_

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**"For One Golden Day"  
Will**

New Year's Eve of 1992, McKinley High Glee Club had organized a show presenting, as the banner proclaimed, songs of their "hopes for the new year."

Will couldn't wait, for a number of reasons. There were the easy ones – he loved to perform, loved to be on stage. Only this night was special – he had a solo, which was great in its own rights, but he was even more anxious for his duet… with April Rhodes.

When it had been announced, he swore he turned three shades of red in succession. They were given their song, and they would rehearse it over the next three days, leading up to the show.

The very next morning, Will found himself bedridden by a nasty cold. His throat had become like a sand paper tunnel. There was no way he could sing that day, and it was very unlikely he could sing in three days.

Somehow, the news got out. He imagined his mother had called Mrs. Adler. This got him a call from a happy Marcus Finley, who announced he'd been chosen to replace him, both for the solo and the duet with April. If anything, that was worse than the fact that he couldn't sing in the show. He was visited by Terri over the next few days. He told her she didn't have to come and risk getting sick as well, but deep down he was glad to have her there. Years down the road, he'd hold this moment in time as the one that had cemented their relationship.

On New Year's Eve, Will had to be watched, his parents knowing he just might sneak off to try and make it to the show, even though he was still barely standing.

He couldn't believe it, couldn't believe that after wanting it for so long, he'd finally gotten his chance to sing with April Rhodes… the great April, the best of all of them. She was to graduate at the end of the current school year, his chance was slipping away, and now… to come so close and yet so far… If his parents hadn't been watching him, he just might have tried going out there.

He wasn't clueless. He knew April probably had no idea who he was. But he didn't care, because even if she never knew his name, she'd already given him something much better than any duet or acknowledgment of his existence.

Seeing her perform as she did, time and time again, it made him keep trying to be better. And in so many ways, he felt he'd done just that, not for her sake but his own.

It took one more week before he could return to Glee Club without them being worried he'd pass on his cold and sideline them as well. Marcus Finley was more than happy to tell him about his duet with April.

Later, Will would be told just how the duet really went, he was sure of that… There was no way it had gone how Marcus had said – he wasn't that good. Only who would be the one giving him the real deal… that was a surprise.

At lunch, Will was working on Spanish homework – it was easy, he wasn't worried – as he ate. He was halfway through his lunch when someone sat across from him. He thought it'd be Terri but, when he looked up, it was April Rhodes stealing his tater tots, not Terri. He was so confused; he just sat there watching her. After a moment, she sat back, wiping her fingers on one of his napkins with a smirk.

"Feeling better?" she asked. He blinked, nodded. "You can talk, right?"

"Y… yeah," he finally chuckled.

"Good," she nodded, grabbing his jell-o cup and spoon. She could eat his whole lunch for all he cared if it meant she would sit with him and keep talking. "It's a shame, you know… you being out sick for the show. Would have been good… better than what we got."

"What do you mean? I thought Marcus…"

"Marcus…" she laughed. "Marcus couldn't keep up. And he barfed on my shoes the moment we got off stage," she shuddered. As if he didn't have reason enough to be all smiles… He tried not to look too satisfied about this revelation. "Glad I told you?" she whispered, leaning in.

"Oh, yeah," he admitted, grinning.

"You going to eat that?" she nodded to his apple. He picked it up and held it out to her. She smiled and took it.

As lunch time ticked along and Will's lunch disappeared more and more, April went on telling him about the show he'd missed, and Marcus' true "performance report." He wasn't sure why she was there… he didn't care. She could be bored, she could have needed lunch, or she could truly care… probably one of the first two. He wasn't going to ask.

For the rest of the day, he felt on cloud nine. He'd spent lunch time with April Rhodes. He finished his Spanish homework in a flash. He was so cheerful, under any other circumstances he might have been suspected of being on something.

The way he felt that day, he hoped he could repeat it, so many times over. It was the same way he felt when he was on stage. If he had anything to say for it, he would never let it go.

THE END


End file.
